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the weekly dose

I feel like I’ve written a lot about Sia on the blog over the last few years, but she really is one of my favorite artists who is finally getting the attention she deserves. I first became aware of Sia in the early 2000’s, when she was featured on the song “Destiny” by Zero 7. The thing is, I didn’t really know it was her until about 7 or 8 years later when she released her live album Lady Croissant which featured that song alongside another Zero 7 track and live performances from her solo albums up until that point (including “Breathe Me” which has been included in many commercials, as well as featuring prominently in the Six Feet Under series finale).

She recently gained attention in the mainstream for her song “Titanium” which was produced by David Guetta. She’s also written songs for many popular artists (including Rihanna, Madonna, and Beyonce to name a few), and earlier this month she released her fifth studio album, 1000 Forms Of Fear. Lately, Sia has been hiding her face in most of her live television performances, due to a combination of stage fright and a reluctance to be in the public eye. But I’ve seen her in concert three times (so far), and I hope she will someday return to touring and live concert performances, as she really does have one of the best voices out there right now.

So, The Weekly Dose has recently been bi-weekly, at least for this last month, but I’m still trying to do it weekly if possible. I have a lot of other things going on that come before this blog, but I do like sharing some good music as often as I can. I usually put this plug at the bottom of each week’s post, but I don’t know if everybody makes it down that far, so if you’re enjoying the playlists that I post here, please let me know what you think in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page. I’d like to know what you liked, what you didn’t, and what songs you’d like to hear in the future! Also, thanks to those who have actually subscribed to this playlist on Spotify. We’ve been gaining a few every week.

The big event for this week, at least for me and thousands of others, is that Coachella starts this coming weekend. I’ll be at weekend two this year, and will be my 10th time attending the festival. It really is always my favorite time of the year. Even though I wasn’t initially as excited as I usually would be for the 2014 lineup, there are still dozens of acts that I’ll be seeing, some I’ve seen before (Beck, Arcade Fire), some I’ve been wanting to see for awhile (Little Dragon, Pet Shop Boys), and I’ve made some new discoveries this year as well. (more…)

This week’s post may be going up a day late, but it’s definitely worth the wait… I have “road tested” these songs (in other words, “listened to them in the car”) and I think it’s the best playlist yet!

I hope everybody has been enjoying these playlists so far. I’ve had a good time putting them together. There’s just something kind of retro about putting together an hour’s worth of music (almost like a mix tape or CD) and sharing it so other people can hear.

Featured Artist Of The Week: St. Vincent

I’ll admit that I didn’t immediately get into the music of St. Vincent (also known as Annie Clark). I had people telling me about her stuff for years before I gave it a proper listen, but to be honest, I wish I had discovered her sooner. Her last album, Strange Mercy was one of my favorite releases of 2o11. In 2012, she collaborated with David Byrne on an amazing album, Love This Giant.

Now, she’s back with her fourth studio album (the self-titled St. Vincent) and I think it might be her best work yet.

The Weekly Dose 03-04-14

This week’s playlist includes two songs from the new St. Vincent album (the frenetic “Birth In Reverse” and the slower album-ending track “Severed Crossed Fingers”). In addition, you’ll find 15 more songs by The Dandy Warhols (one of my top 100 songs of the 00’s), XTC, new Bombay Bicycle Club, Jellyfish (one of my favorite 90’s bands), Beck (whose new album features two ex-members of Jellyfish: Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. and Jason Falkner), Karen O’s Academy Award nominated “The Moon Song” … and many more!

I wish I had time to write about every one of these artists and songs. In addition to the ones I listed above, there are so many goods ones here… The Clientele, The Zutons (who most people know because they wrote “Valerie” which was covered by Amy Winehouse). I’ll have to feature each of these artists in a future playlist!

Welcome to the second edition of The Weekly Dose, the Spotify playlist that is updated every week with about an hour’s worth of great music, both new and old. Thanks to everybody who checked us out in week one. The idea for this playlist comes from the fact that if I’m not listening to a specific album, I’m usually just shuffling the “favorites” folder on my iPod or Spotify, featuring thousands of my all-time favorite songs. Because those songs span the decades from the 60’s (or earlier) through today, it’s always an eclectic mix of music.

If you follow The Weekly Dose ON Spotify itself, you’ll notice that the songs will change every week. There’s currently no need to subscribe to more than the one playlist, although that could change in the future. A second playlist will debut here soon, and will be an archive featuring all songs from previous weeks for your listening pleasure. That’s enough explanation for now, let’s get on to this week’s Dose.

Featured Artist of the Week: Courtney Barnett

I’ll admit, I didn’t know much about Courtney Barnett until just recently when I started hearing her songs played on Sirius radio’s station XMU. Courtney is an Australian singer-songwriter from Melbourne. She has two EP’s so far, and those two have been combined together into one “double EP” here in the United States. In addition to getting some radio airplay, she’s also one of just a couple of additions to this year’s Coachella festival since the initial lineup was announced in January.

In addition to two Courtney Barnett songs, this week’s Dose includes a few “flashback” artists spanning the 80’s (Orange Juice), 90’s (Pulp, Jennifer Trynin, Grandaddy) and newer acts like Father John Misty (who had my favorite album of 2012) and last week’s Artist You Should Know: Temples… Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments, or on our Facebook page.

Starting today, I’m going to be trying something new. Every week (on Sunday or Monday), I will be posting a playlist here called The Weekly Dose, with around an hour’s worth of music. Within Spotify itself, the songs each week will change automatically. If you follow the playlist, you should be notified of any changes, and once the new songs are posted, the ones from the previous week will be saved into an archive (coming next week). The plan is to feature mostly new music, with a few older songs thrown in for good measure.

Featured Artist Of The Week: Beck

In addition to the featured music, each week will also spotlight a certain artist, and our first artist of the week is Beck. I’ve been a Beck fan since he released Mellow Gold back in ’94. Next week he will release his newest album, called Morning Phase. This week’s Dose has one song from the new album, and a classic song as well.

Check out the playlist below, and let me know what you think in the comments, on Twitter, or on our Facebook page. I’d like to know what you liked, what you didn’t, and what songs you’d like to hear in the future!

The Weekly Dose 02-17-14

1. Beck – New Moon
2. Hot Chip – Baby Said
3. Harry Nilsson – Gotta Get Up
4. Yacht – I’m In Love With A Ripper
5. The Blow – Parentheses
6. Supergrass – Late In The Day
7. Beck – Where It’s At
8. New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno
9. Elvis Costello – Every Day I Write The Book
10. TV on the Radio – Caffeinated Consciousness
11. St. Vincent – Year Of The Tiger
12. Beirut – Nantes
13. Caveman – In The City
14. The Clientele – Minotaur
15. Badly Drawn Boy – Something To Talk About